The behaviour and appearance of nematic liquid crystal cells having a thin layer of liquid crystal medium depends upon the molecular alignment within the layer. The operation of field effect cells normally involves switching one or more portions of a layer between `homeotropic` alignment in which the molecules are aligned normal to the layer, and `homogeneous parallel` alignment in which all the molecules at any particular depth in the layer are aligned in a particular direction in the plane of the layer. In a twisted nematic cell the homogeneous parallel alignment is in one particular direction at one surface of the layer and in a different direction at the other. At intermediate points in the thickness of the layer the alignment directions are in intermediate directions. This invention concerns constructions of a cell designed to provide `homogeneous random` alignment state in which at any particular depth in the layer all the molecules are aligned in the plane of the layer but lie in random directions within that plane.
Homogeneous random alignment can be provided by arranging for the liquid crystal layer to be bounded by a surface treated with a suitable surfactant, such as chloro trimethyl silane. Alternatively, in the case of a nematic exhibiting negative dielectric anisotropy, homogeneous random alignment can in suitable circumstances be obtained by the application of an electric field to a layer previously in homeotropic alignment.